Every day millions of people engage in activities where their bodies are exposed to risks of varying intensity and cause, either external or due to underlying medical conditions. These risks may limit one's ability or desire to perform tasks such as those related to common everyday living, occupational functions or for the purposes of recreation.
It is generally recognized that in cases of a medical emergency those with an underlying medical conditions often wear or carry medical identification jewelry or information cards to facilitate medical care in the case of medical emergency or other events. Such devices are useful for the purposes of providing valuable information about the wearer in case of an event that would require medical attention. However such solutions are merely an informational queue for persons attempting to assist the wearer such as a first-responder, emergency medical technician, paramedic or simply a member of the general public acting in the capacity of a Good Samaritan. Furthermore, the amount of information such devices may hold, often in a non-digital, human-observable form, is limited by the small form-factor.
Other devices available in the prior art surrounding the addressing of medical response needs are available in the form of a help-call button mounted at strategic points within a facility or home. Alternatively, such devices may be worn and activated by the user or other persons assisting the wearer in order to summon emergency medical service personnel. The problem with such solutions stem from the need for activation that may occur following an event which prevents the user from being able to perform such actions. Furthermore, although previous medical information may be available, actionable data pertaining to the current event is unavailable to provide summoned medical personnel. Further still, such permit little mobility in the sense that the help-call buttons are typically hard wired or, in the case of the user-worn variety, offer a limited range of communication and functionality.
There are several commercially available medical data storage applications that are configured as jewelry or clothing elements and allow a wearer or emergency responders to access medical records stored within said applications. Additionally, there are several applications configured to allow a wearer to signal the location, document presence, or proximity within or outside of a facility to the monitoring personnel or emergency responders and summon assistance. However, there is a lack of a practical application configured with sensors and reporting means to alert the wearer, monitors or the emergency responders of a sensor-detected condition exceeding a predetermined threshold and predicted to present a medically urgent condition, location or movement and further configured to communicate the wearer data and information to the emergency responders or monitors.
Other devices in the prior art surrounding the need for notification to family members, caretakers, and other intended recipients in the case of need for assistance such as in an emergency permit a nearly unlimited range by providing communication to a centralized service by means of satellite communication. These devices, however, provide a user a limited selection of communication options stemming from a series of pre-written messages by the user to be sent when the user actuates one of a series of buttons. Furthermore, some devices known in the prior art also require a substantially clear view of the sky or access to sophisticated or proprietary data networks, limiting the application of such a device to outdoors and away from large structures.